BGU Professors Swap Academics for Agricultural Fields
BGU Professors Swap Academics for Agricultural Fields
December 5, 2023
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Prof. Guy Ben-Porat and Prof. Haim Weiss working on the farm in the Western Negev.
Haaretz — On October 7, when Hamas terrorists carried out a massacre in southern Israel, at least 40 migrant laborers from Thailand – not connected in any way whatsoever to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – were murdered and nearly 30 taken hostage.
Most of those who survived, including 15 of Meni Shmaya’s workers, booked the first flights they could out of Israel, leaving the agricultural sector in desperate need of working hands. Like many farmers in the region, Shmaya has come to rely on local volunteers until a more permanent solution for this manpower crisis is found.
Two of his regulars – among the first to show up for duty at the start of the week, their sleeves rolled up and boots already packed with mud – seem rather overqualified for this kind of manual labor: they are full-time professors, both prominent in their respective fields.
“This combination of hard physical work and fresh air – it’s the only thing that keeps me calm these days,” says Prof. Haim Weiss, a professor of Hebrew literature at Beer-Sheva’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
“After October 7, I started thinking about what I could do that would be meaningful for society. I mean, let’s face it, professors of literature are not in high demand during wartime,” he says. “Coming out here makes me feel that I’m helping someone in real need, and that’s a good feeling.”
Prof. Guy Ben-Porat of the University’s Department of Politics and Government, shares why he is on the farm rather than at his desk in Beer-Sheva, “The bottom line is that we abandoned these people for many years,” he says, referring to the farmers and communities on the Gaza border.
Using the Jewish term for making things right, he adds: “For me, this is an act of tikkun.”
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